Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-bp2c4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-20T20:46:09.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evidence-based policies, nudge theory and Nancy Cartwright: a search for causal principles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2020

ALEJANDRO HORTAL
ALEJANDRO HORTAL*
Affiliation:
Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of North Carolina Greensboro, NC, USA
*
*Correspondence to: Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Moore Humanities Research Building, Office 1119, Greensboro, NC. USA. Email: a_hortal@uncg.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nancy Cartwright argues that evidence-based policies should not only rely on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to test their effectiveness – they should also use horizontal and vertical searches to find support factors and causal principles that help define how those policies work. This paper aims at analyzing Cartwright's epistemology regarding evidence-based policies and their use of RCTs while applying her findings to current research involving nudges as behavioral public policy interventions. Holding a narrowly instrumental view of rationality, nudge theory tends to neglect other expressive components. Policymakers, in their quest for causal principles, should consider the expressive rationality of individuals in their research. This inclusion would not only increase the effectiveness of nudges, but also address some ethical issues related to people's autonomy when targeted by these interventions.

Information

Type
Article
Information
Behavioural Public Policy , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , April 2023 , pp. 333 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Álvarez, J. F. (2002), ‘El tejido de la racionalidad acotada y expresiva’, Manuscrito, XXV, 11–29.Google Scholar
Arno, A., Thomas, S. (2016), ‘The efficacy of nudge theory strategies in influencing adult dietary behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, BMC Public Health, 16, 676. doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3272-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Behavioral Insights Team (2012), Test, Learn, Adapt. Developing Public Policy with Randomised Controlled Trials.Google Scholar
Bicchieri, C. (2017), Norms in the wild: how to diagnose, measure, and change social norms. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190622046.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bicchieri, C., Dimant, E. (2019), Nudging with Care: The Risks and Benefits of Social Information (No. ID 3319088). Social Science Research Network, Rochester, NY.Google Scholar
Bird, K., Castleman, B., Denning, J., Goodman, J., Lamberton, C., Rosinger, K. O. (2019), Nudging at Scale: Experimental Evidence from FAFSA Completion Campaigns National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. doi:10.3386/w26158CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boudon, R. (1998), ‘Limitations of Rational Choice Theory’, The American Journal of Sociology, 104, 817–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1985), ‘Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste’, MLN, 100, 1133. doi:10.2307/2905454Google Scholar
Bouwmeester, O. (2017), The social construction of rationality: policy debates and the power of good reasons. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2017. |. doi:10.4324/9781315724379CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandon, A., List, J. A., Metcalfe, R. D., Price, M. K., Rundhammer, F. (2019), ‘Testing for crowd out in social nudges: Evidence from a natural field experiment in the market for electricity’, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 116, 5293–5298. doi:10.1073/pnas.1802874115CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cadena, X., Schoar, A. (2011), Remembering to pay? reminders vs. financial incentives for loan payments National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. doi:10.3386/w17020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartwright, N. (2009), What is this thing called “efficacy”?. Philosophy of the social sciences : philosophical theory and scientific practice Cambridge University Press. 185–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartwright, N. (2011a), ‘A philosopher's view of the long road from RCTs to effectiveness’, Lancet, 377, 1400–1401. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(11)60563-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartwright, N. (2011b), Evidence, External Validity, and explanatory relevance, in: Morgan, G. J. (Ed.), Philosophy of Science Matters: The Philosophy of Peter Achinstein Oxford University Press, pp. 15–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartwright, N. (2012), Rcts, evidence, and predicting policy effectiveness, Oxford Handbooks Online Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195392753.013.0013Google Scholar
Cartwright, N. (2013), Evidence : for policy and wheresoever rigor is a must., Order Project Discussion Paper Series. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)., London.Google Scholar
Cartwright, N. (2018), ‘What evidence should guidelines take note of? J. Eval. Clin. Pract. 24, 1139–1144. doi:10.1111/jep.12959CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartwright, N., Hardie, J. (2012), Evidence-Based Policy: A Practical Guide to Doing It Better Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199841608.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deaton, A., Cartwright, N. (2018), ‘Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials’, Soc. Sci. Med. 210, 2–21. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.12.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DellaVigna, S., Linos, E. (2020), RCTs to Scale: Comprehensive Evidence from Two Nudge Units. RCTs to Scale: Comprehensive Evidence from Two Nudge Units.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Echeverría, J., Álvarez, J. F. (2008), Bounded Rationality in Social Sciences, in: Agazzi, E. (Ed.), Epistemology and the Social. Rodopi, pp. 173–91.Google Scholar
Einfeld, C. (2019), ‘Nudge and evidence based policy: fertile ground’, Evid. Policy, 15, 509–524. doi:10.1332/174426418X15314036559759CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gigerenzer, G. (2015), ‘On the supposed evidence for libertarian paternalism’, Rev. Philos. Psychol. 6, 361–383. doi:10.1007/s13164-015-0248-1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guala, F. (2012), Experimentation in Economics, in: Philosophy of Economics Elsevier, 597–640. doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-51676-3.50021-XGoogle Scholar
Halpern, D. (2013), ‘Applying psychology to public policy’, APS Observer, 27.Google Scholar
Hortal, A. (2019), ‘Nudging and educating: bounded axiological rationality in behavioral insights. Behav’, Public Policy 1–24. doi:10.1017/bpp.2019.2Google Scholar
Jiménez-Buedo, M. (2011), ‘Conceptual tools for assessing experiments: some well-entrenched confusions regarding the internal/external validity distinction’, Journal of Economic Methodology, 18, 271–282. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2011.611027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jimenez-Buedo, M., Miller, L. M. (2010), ‘Why a trade-off? The relationship between the external and internal validity of experiments’, Theoria. Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia, 25, 301–321.Google Scholar
Kahan, D. M. (2017), ‘The expressive rationality of inaccurate perceptions’, Behav. Brain Sci. 40, e6. doi:10.1017/S0140525X15002332CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahneman, D. (2011), Thinking, Fast and Slow Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D., Tversky, A. (1979), ‘Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk’, Econometrica, 47, 263. doi:10.2307/1914185CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karlan, D., McConnell, M., Mullainathan, S., Zinman, J. (2016), ‘Getting to the top of mind: how reminders increase saving’, Management Science, 62, 3393–3411. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2015.2296CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korn, L., Betsch, C., Böhm, R., Meier, N. W. (2018), ‘Social nudging: The effect of social feedback interventions on vaccine uptake’, Health Psychol. 37, 1045–1054. doi:10.1037/hea0000668CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCrudden, C., King, J. (2015), ‘The dark side of nudging: the ethics, political economy, and law of libertarian paternalism’, Choice Architecture in Democracies, Exploring the Legitimacy of Nudging (Oxford/Baden-Baden: Hart and Nomos, 2015), Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Milkman, K. L., Beshears, J., Choi, J. J., Laibson, D., Madrian, B. C. (2011), ‘Using implementation intentions prompts to enhance influenza vaccination rates’, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 108, 10415–10420. doi:10.1073/pnas.1103170108CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mullen, E. J. (2016), ‘Reconsidering the ‘idea'of evidence in evidence-based policy and practice’, European journal of social work, 19, 310–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nozick, R. (1993), The Nature of Rationality Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, A. (2019), Reciprocity and the art of behavioural public policy Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108647755CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opp, K. D. (2015), ‘Instrumental, Axiological Rationality and the Explanation of Norms. Cherkaoui's (and Boudon's) Critique of Rational Choice Theory and Its Ability to Explain Norm Emergence’, Theories and Social Mechanisms. Essays in Honor of Mohamed Cherkaoui, 1, 183–206.Google Scholar
Oreopoulos, P., Petronijevic, U. (2019), The Remarkable Unresponsiveness of College Students to Nudging And What We Can Learn from It National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. doi:10.3386/w26059CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearl, J. (2018), ‘Challenging the hegemony of randomized controlled trials: A commentary on Deaton and Cartwright’, Soc. Sci. Med. 210, 60–62. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.04.024CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simon, H. (1957), Models of man: social and rational; mathematical essays on rational human behavior in society setting Wiley.Google Scholar
Sunstein, C. R. (2017), ‘Nudges that fail. Behav’, Public Policy, 1, 4–25. doi:10.1017/bpp.2016.3Google Scholar
Thaler, R. H., Sunstein, C. R. (2009), ‘Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness. Penguin.Google Scholar
Tversky, A., Kahneman, D. (1974), ‘Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases’, Science, 185, 1124–1131. doi:10.1126/science.185.4157.1124CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tversky, A., Kahneman, D. (1981), ‘The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice’, Science, 211, 453–458. doi:10.1126/science.7455683CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Volpp, K. G., Troxel, A. B., Mehta, S. J., Norton, L., Zhu, J., Lim, R., Wang, W., Marcus, N., Terwiesch, C., Caldarella, K., Levin, T., Relish, M., Negin, N., Smith-McLallen, A., Snyder, R., Spettell, C. M., Drachman, B., Kolansky, D., Asch, D. A. (2017), ‘Effect of electronic reminders, financial incentives, and social support on outcomes after myocardial infarction: the heartstrong randomized clinical trial’, JAMA Intern. Med. 177, 1093–1101. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.2449CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed